Adam Zak
Contributing Writer
“Saw X,” despite being the tenth film in the franchise, actually takes place before the original. It also is just as gory and brings up some solid questions regarding morality.
John Kramer/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell), is back again for this film and kills it, even at the ripe old age of 81. This age actually plays a rather large factor in the story, as not only is his age and health the driving factor for this revenge story, but also leads to him trying to pass the bloody torch onto Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith), his current apprentice and past victim. To preface the film and others in the series, Jigsaw conducts games with his victims who might not be bad people, but certainly have some negative traits such as stealing and addictions.
The revenge story in “Saw X” along with its characteristics is very interesting, as it even has some anti-big pharma ideas. Kramer is in rough shape with a brain tumor, and told he only has months left to live; however, there is still much work to be done. After endless treatments and thousands of dollars, he goes with an alternate route from a foreign doctor that promises to cure cancer, yet must be low-key as to not attract big pharma’s attention. One of Kramer’s cancer treatment buddies tells him that he did this treatment and is cancer-free, giving him a contact to the doctor.
Kramer is kidnapped and taken to the secret procedure location in Mexico, operated on, and recovers from his surgery, but something feels off. When he tracks the facility down to thank the doctor who supposedly saved his life, he discovers that the entire operation was a scam.
(Editor’s Note: There are spoilers in the next four paragraphs, so skip ahead if you plan on watching the film.) This prompts Kramer to track down every person in on the scam, all to play some of his infamous and grotesque games. One of the first games in the film happens early on and with someone else, as Kramer sees a hospital janitor stealing, he imagines the man in one of his games, where vacuum goggles are placed on the man’s eyes and will rip them out if he loses, which he does. However, Kramer makes his presence known which makes the man put the items back.
After this, the film goes on a rather dry spell for a while; however, this time is utilized to set up the revenge story quite nicely. Kramer and Amanda track and capture all the people that set him up, including the main villain, Dr. Pederson. The gory games that the group play include a wire saw to your leg or your head, DIY brain surgery, chained-limbs with a hot radiator cooking you, ‘blood’ boarding two people switching between who drowns, and a nova gas chamber also for two people, with only one breathing hole.
The second twist of the film, the one I found the most surprising and interesting, was when Dr. Pederson is broken out when her man, who was pretending to be a cancer patient himself, puts Kramer into a game of his own creation. The third and last twist happens soon after, where all of that was actually part of Jigsaw’s plan. To get them both, he set up the nova gas chamber to trigger when the bag of money was taken by one of them and to shut off the game Jigsaw was playing. However, there was an unexpected part to Kramer’s plan: a kid being placed with him in the game, who I presume was supposed to be Amanda.
There are also a handful of quotes that make their way back throughout the film which I liked, such as “pull” in Spanish, as Kramer fixes a kid’s bike during his time at “treatment” and learns the word from him, and comes back to save the kid’s life using the Spanish he learned. Another recurring quote is when Kramer tells Dr. Pederson’s man that he will “get burned, you just don’t know it yet” and “she will get you too.”
Morality is a large part of the franchise, questioning whether Kramer is really a bad guy if he goes after people with a “sickness” and the game is to be their “wake-up call.” This movie compares Kramer to Dr. Pederson, in which Kramer thoroughly believes Pederson is worse as she kills innocent people with “false hope.” Another, less impactful take on morality between the two also came into play. It happens shortly after when Dr. Pederson flips the script on Kramer; she kills one of her workers right after they had won their game and Amanda, being held back, screams that she is sick. This honestly made me chuckle in the theater, as if that is not the pot calling the kettle black.
I saw the film at the Madison Theatre, which I normally love to go to, not only to support a local business, but also because of its proximity, cost, tables, and food options. However, this experience was by and large my worst one. My sister and I were looking for a showtime, and decided upon the 8:40 p.m. showing rather than the 11 p.m., which would have us leaving the theater around 1 a.m.
We got there at 8:45, got our tickets, but were unable to find a theater with “Saw” labeled on the entrance. Our tickets said Theater 4, so we went in there—realizing only after several very confusing minutes and as the credits began to roll that we had actually watched the very end of the movie. (Apologies to the other moviegoers, as we had assumed we were watching movie trailers and were talking the whole time.)
When we realized what had happened, we went to the cashier and they told us nonchalantly “oh yeah, the showtime is at 9:30.” Why they did not tell us this when we bought our tickets, or why they thought people would come to a movie showing an hour early, is beyond this reviewer. For some reason online it only says 8:40 and 11:10 showings, not the 9:30 showing. When we went back at 9:30 after killing time, we learned that another couple had the same experience as we did and opted to just stay and drink at the theater’s bar.
Another little gripe I had when we saw it was that the lights never fully turned off, which in my sister’s case was good as she goes to bed early and it helped keep her up, but I felt like for a horror movie especially the theater should have been darker for the tone of the film.
Right after seeing the movie, it felt like we had entered the spooky “Saw” universe as we walked out of the theater; a thick fog covered the streets and parking lot, along with a bright full moon. A lone, hooded stranger in the empty, foggy parking lot was walking toward us with a crooked neck and limp, and hollered at my sister and I.
Overall, I think “Saw X” is a great horror film and a good way to start this spooky season of October. I believe it can be enjoyed by old and new fans of the series, but obviously a caution and deterrence to those who get queasy when it comes to gore, as there were a handful of scenes where I was squinting at the screen waiting for the shot along with the loud, crisp audio to end. The storyline, games, and twists kept the pace up and held my attention, making a nice addition to the series, and one of the better films at that.
